Mammoth Mission

No shortcuts to the top for Meb Keflezighi

Supportive training environments and superb coaching are just two pieces of the recipe designed to bring Americans back to the world-class dinner table. Soon Larsen and Vigil had the athletes trading off sea-level training stints at the Olympic Training Center with measured doses of altitude work in Mammoth Lakes.

Although Keflezighi lived at altitude in Eritrea, where he played soccer as a youth, logging high mileage at elevation was uncharted territory. But a perfectly-timed, three-week regimen at Mammoth in 2001 yielded big results—his 10K U.S. record on the Stanford University track. More frequent trips to the mountains followed.

The ski resort town high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains offers an ideal environment for applying cutting-edge altitude training regimens. Team USA California athletes do their long, tempo and recovery runs at about 8,000 feet on the numerous trails and lightly traveled roadways near the team’s rented condos. For higher intensity work, they jump on Route 395 and drive 40 miles down to Bishop at 4,000 feet, where faster training speeds provide maximal physiological benefits.

Drossin, bolstered by her progression and economic security as a world-class athlete, was the first member of the team to purchase a home at Mammoth Lakes village. In April 2002 Keflezighi followed. Three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths accommodate both himself and guest visits by his family and teammates.

Now, Keflezighi takes the long, periodic trips back and forth between Mammoth and San Diego in stride. His deliberate progress to the top makes them worthwhile.

"I’m convinced that elevation training works," Keflezighi emphatically says, personally validating what exercise physiologists, coaches, and Kenyans have been proving for years. "For the balance of my running career, that’s where I’m going to be living."

The Coach Fits

Undeniably, the developmental wheel for Keflezighi and the stable of Team USA California athletes revolves around coaches Larsen and Vigil. For young, post-collegiate distance runners willing to postpone traditional American career paths, the coach-athlete relationship is far more than a business proposition. Especially when that relationship has grown over almost a decade.

About his mentor, Keflezighi says, "I respect him as a coach and almost as a father figure. He challenges me. He’s seen me grow and what my body can take. He’s been a great advisor, not just about running, but in other parts of my life."

Keflezighi was raised in a family of high achievers, nurtured by hard-working immigrant parents devoted to their children. His oldest brother is a Silicon Valley engineer. Several siblings are pursuing MBA’s or higher degrees. A sister is in medical school. So, it’s no surprise that Keflezighi is driven by an unusual discipline in the pursuit of excellence. In his limited spare time, he devours books on leadership, management and negotiation skills.

That type of resolve provides both a gift and a challenge for athlete and coach. And, Larsen seems the perfect match to both stoke and temper Keflezighi’s fire.

When Keflezighi entered UCLA wearing a prep belt notched with big wins, it was Larsen who taught Keflezighi to look at the bigger picture.

"I told him, Meb, you’re not going to win all your races," Larsen recalls, "because if you do I’m not doing my job. I’m going to put you in some races where you’re going to get your butt beat."

The athlete got the picture in a hurry. In his junior year, he won the NCAA 5,000/10,000 outdoor double, indoor 5,000, and cross country championships.

Larsen and Keflezighi each admit that Larsen’s even-keeled influence, and Keflezighi’s eagerness to listen, make an effective combination. When Keflezighi showed the stress of working a part-time job at the Olympic Training Center on top of a demanding training schedule, it was the coach that intervened.

"He worked so hard at UCLA that he felt strange not putting in 30 or 40 hours a week when he graduated," Larsen says. "He was looking at other kids who graduated with him, and he thought he was getting behind. I told him ‘I think a little bit of work is good, but that’s not what Nike is paying you for. They’re paying you to be the best athlete that you can be.’"

Marathon Beckons

Keflezighi’s quick, rhythmic pace, his form and economy, lead many to speculate that the athlete’s ultimate appointment is with the marathon. After all, Americans are hungry for heroes over a 26.2-mile distance that they view as the ultimate running accomplishment.

Last November, when Keflezighi crossed the marathon finish line in New York, shivering and weak, he looked at his coach and voiced a knee-jerk reaction familiar to first-time marathoners: "Well, that’s my first and last marathon."

Larsen chuckled and thought to himself, if you’re going to be a distance runner you need to have a short memory. Keflezighi did. When he returned from this Eritrean trip he was eager to plan another marathon with Larsen. But the coach is cautious. 2003 has a World Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Paris on the calendar.

"I’m thinking that we don’t really need another marathon right now," Larsen says.

Keflezighi gives the definite impression that New York is a race he’d rather not discuss. "I’m sorry if I’m blunt when I talk about it," he apologizes.

A ninth-place 2:12:35 borders on unacceptable to a man who demands high achievement. Never mind that the course was windy in sections, and that late hills in Central Park can turn the most experienced marathoner’s legs to mush. Discount that he ran with the leaders through 21 miles, on course-record pace. No matter that he was going head-to-head with Rodgers Rop, who won Boston the previous April.

Larsen had told Keflezighi: "You have a good shot at finishing in the top five, but let one or two guys go if they’re going hard."

And, the Kenyan went hard. At mile 16, fueled by screaming crowds along First Avenue, Keflezighi boldly followed Rop’s surge.

"My strategy was to follow the leaders," Keflezighi painfully recalls. "I was in the race for 20 miles. At 18 miles people thought I was going to win it."

That’s where Keflezighi dared to edge ahead of Rop, the eventual victor.

"Keflezighi did it despite my warnings," says Larsen without a hint of criticism. "I told him what it was going to feel like once you start burning fat instead of carbs. But you can’t blame him. That’s what makes a great athlete."

At 20 miles, Keflezighi tossed away his knit cap, preparing himself for a heated battle over the last 10K. But within a mile or so the cold morning sent chills sweeping through his body. He shuffled home.

"I made a mistake," Keflezighi sighs. "You can have great training for three months, but if you can’t do it on race day, what’s the point? I was definitely fitter than 2:12 but it didn’t happen in New York. Live and learn."

"It was a heck of an effort," Larsen countered. "I told him not to challenge those guys too long, but he did, and yet he didn’t die. He didn’t run 2:15 or 2:20. He ran 2:12."

Here and Beyond

So, what lies ahead for this self-demanding athlete with the heart of his running career still before him? You know his aspirations are high, but in his careful, understated manner, Keflezighi isn’t letting on much. And, both coach and athlete agree that it’s too soon to pick a priority, 10,000 or marathon, for the 2004 Olympic year.

"Sure, I have my goals," Keflezighi offers, "to do the best that I can. Beyond that, the bar just gets higher, so I’ll keep them to myself. You never know what’s going to happen next month, so you just try and be fit and seize the moment."

For Meb Keflezighi, at least for the time being, breezing up and down Route 395 fits that philosophy just fine.